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March 2016 was both a celebration of women in business and a call-to-action for continued support, empowerment, and investment. Here at the Council, we wanted to make sure that the world recognized the amazing progress in the movement and commemorate the milestone of 10 million business owners. It was a busy month. Here’s a recap…

The Developing the Next Generation of Small Businesses Act of 2016, which was recently approved by the House Committee on Small Business, is a huge victory for Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), a program that has not been updated in nearly a decade, and which is responsible for counseling and training women entrepreneurs. It will 1) increase funding levels for the program to $21.75 million, an increase from the current authorization level of $14.5 million; 2) increase the maximum grant awards for individual centers from $150,000 to $185,000 per year (and continue to require that centers match their grant awards with private dollars); and 3) provide financial flexibility for centers including a hardship waiver for centers that are unable to meet their matching funds goal and scales back auditing and reporting requirements for the non-federal matching funds that exceed the required level. As a champion of women in business, the National Women’s Business Council proudly supports legislative efforts, like this one, to increase, improve, and empower the resources and programming for women in business.

The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is searching for a Research Fellow to join the team for a three-month minimum term, beginning in May 2016 (specific start date flexible). The Research Fellow will support the Council’s Research team on the mission-critical initiatives of the Council. This is a great opportunity for students looking to apply their knowledge of economics and government in a real-world setting. This fellowship is unpaid and based in Washington, DC. This is a fulltime fellowship, but will consider special circumstances (coursework/ other fellowships).

Kate Glantz is the CEO of Heartful.ly, a wedding registry for charitable giving. Through partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and around the world, couples and their wedding guests are empowered to fund real development projects and build a legacy to grow alongside their marriage.

Kari Warberg Block is the founder and CEO of Earth-Kind. She is a champion for inventors, entrepreneurs & CEOs who are scaling their businesses. She is considered a market disrupter and is a fierce environmental advocate.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are sharing a ‘Power Plays’ Spotify playlist. Inspired by the legendary women that have paved the way for the now 10 million women business owners in the country, and the aspiring boss ladies of the future. We hope our #PowerPlays playlist serves as motivation for you innovators, inventors, industry disruptors and boss (ladies). We even had a few of our Council Members share their favorite pick-me-up or at-bat song, see below.

Recognized as one of the country’s top advertising and marketing executives, Kimberly Blackwell is the founder and CEO of the award winning PMM Agency. Having developed a national reputation as a trusted brand and reputation manager to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and influencers – she serves as a key consultant to C-Suite officers and Department Directors in strategic areas of MarCom, Inclusion & Organizational Effectiveness.

Women-owned businesses, as defined by the U.S. Census, are businesses in which women own 51 percent or more of the equity, interest, or stock of the business. Men-owned businesses are defined as men owning 51 percent or more of the equity, interest, or stock of the business. Equally men-/women-owned businesses those in which the equity, interest, or stock of the business is shared 50-50 among men and women owners. Publicly held, foreign-owned, and non-profit businesses are not included in NWBC analysis unless otherwise explicitly noted.

Calculations are based off of privately-held and classifiable firms or the SBO classification of “all firms classifiable by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status.”

Firms that are publically held or firms that are not classifiable by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status are not used in the current calculations. Publicly held and other firms not classifiable by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status companies include: publicly held, foreign-owned, and not for profit.

The definition of “White” business ownership means non-Hispanic White individuals; this is also referred to as “nonminority.”

As an industry classification, Other Services (except Public Administration) (81) is defined as businesses that provide services not specifically provided for elsewhere in the NAICS classification system. Such as, but not limited to, repair and maintenance, electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance, personal and household goods repair and maintenance, death care services, dry-cleaning and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations.

Industries not classified (99) are excluded from NWBC analysis as these industries are actually classified within every NAICS sector as “all other.”

Per methodology published by the Census Bureau, “For the 2012 SBO, the use of administrative data for direct substitution may have affected the equally owned estimates.” In particular, the 2012 SBO reflects relatively fewer equally-owned firms than non-equally owned firms in comparison with 2007 estimates. Further analysis is required to understand the extent to which this technique has influenced non-equally owned estimates.

The 2012 SBO data, as well as data from 2007 and 2002, are available on the Census Bureau’s website at www.census.gov/econ/sbo and through American FactFinder (AFF), the Census Bureau’s online, self-service data access tool.

Rosana Privitera Biondo is the President and CEO of Mark One Electric Co, Inc. Her role as President and CEO is to help drive the team to win and keep her entire staff, that are always taking on new challenges and continue to take her company to new places, working successfully 52 weeks a year. Rosana believes that action looks like the possibility of a developer or an owner wanting to build something new or renovate something existing. This daily action always creates new challenges on how to compete in the already competitive marketplace of electrical contracting.